Pay $7 to promote your Facebook status?

Fork over money to Facebook to get a post seen by more friends, be prepared for autotagging technology, and size up the specs for BlackBerry's next smartphone.

by Bridget Carey

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Today's tech news roundup begins with a look at Facebook. The network is testing a feature that lets you pay to get your posts seen by more friends. Facebook first began testing this concept in May and it's already in 20 other countries. But it's rolling out to some U.S. users now, and the idea is to pay to show off big news or get more attention to an event. Facebook hasn't set an official price for this, but CNET staffers with the feature are asked to pay $7. E-mail me your thoughts on this idea. What do you think would be a reasonable price to pay? Your comments could make it on a future episode.

Get ready to be autotagged. Google just bought the Ukrainian company Viewdle, which creates facial recognition software. Expect to see autotagging on Google products, like Google+. You may also be seeing this soon on Facebook -- the network bought similar technology earlier this year.

Everyone wants to be in the movie streaming business. Toys"R"Us has just launched it's own video hub at ToysrusMovies.com. There are more than 4,000 shows available. Movies start at $3 for a one-day rental, or can be bought for less than $10. Most TV shows are priced at $2. Eventually this will be available through apps on Android and Apple devices, as well as Toys"R"Us's new kid tablet, the Tabeo.

The Mars rover is just a check-in away from being Mayor of Mars. NASA's Curiosity rover used Foursquare to check-in on the red planet. For those of you keeping score at home, that's the second check-in made outside of planet Earth. The first was in 2010, when NASA astronaut Doug Wheelock checked-in from the International Space Station.

And it appears some details have leaked about Research In Motion's next phone to run BlackBerry 10. According to a document published by RapidBerry, this device is referred to as the Aristo. It's a thin build with a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage (it can be expanded with a memory card). And like other top smartphones, it will have two cameras: the front can shoot 720p video, and the back camera is 8MP. Of course we'll have to wait and see if this is the real deal.